Nadal will retire this year

As much as I would love to see him back the way things are going for him I think he is headed towards retirement. I think its hard for him to come back after such an extended break. When he comes back he is not going have the mental edge. He will attempt to go straight to the clay court season where he feels most comfortable. In the end he will retire much sooner than Roger.

He will retire with the exact same slam record as Borg (11 wins, 5 losing finals).

Never will he be able to be mentioned in the same breath as Fed and Sampras.

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I don't think it's "likely", but unfortunately I think it's no longer outlandish. One more postponement ~ calling off his Acapulco comeback to avoid the IW/Miami hardcourt double-header and waiting until Monte Carlo instead ~ and I'll start to get nervous.

He will retire with the exact same slam record as Borg (11 wins, 5 losing finals).

Never will he be able to be mentioned in the same breath as Fed and Sampras.

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Wow, wow, wow, hold your horses buddy. Sampras didn't even win all 4 slams and has about half as many master titles as Nadal.

This prediction is WAY premature. We'll know more about where Rafa stands after the clay season. His results on hard have been a bit shaky since 2009 (with the shining exception of his USO 2010 success) but his results on clay have stayed strong. I'm not gonna give credit to any definitive statement until we see what happens on clay.

Wow, wow, wow, hold your horses buddy. Sampras didn't even win all 4 slams and has about half as many master titles as Nadal.

This prediction is WAY premature. We'll know more about where Rafa stands after the clay season. His results on hard have been a bit shaky since 2009 (with the shining exception of his USO 2010 success) but his results on clay have stayed strong. I'm not gonna give credit to any definitive statement until we see what happens on clay.

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IF he plays on clay. Can't believe I'm even saying this... but if he doesn't show at Acapulco, I don't think he will return.

IF he plays on clay. Can't believe I'm even saying this... but if he doesn't show at Acapulco, I don't think he will return.

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If he doesn't show up on clay, yeah, everything is lost but I still believe he WILL show up on clay. I believe if all events since Wimbledon had been on clay, he would have already got back. Can't blame him for being a bit more nervous about hard court, given the circumstances.

If he doesn't show up on clay, yeah, everything is lost but I still believe he WILL show up on clay. I believe if all events since Wimbledon had been on clay, he would have already got back. Can't blame him for being a bit more nervous about hard court, given the circumstances.

If he doesn't show up on clay, yeah, everything is lost but I still believe he WILL show up on clay. I believe if all events since Wimbledon had been on clay, he would have already got back. Can't blame him for being a bit more nervous about hard court, given the circumstances.

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I hope he does show up but i am so used to the endless delay that i no longer expect anything. the thing is if he knees have been bad all this time and he's only started to practise in the last month(?) then it wouldn't have been a good idea to have returned by now if there had been clay. if he is fit to play he has to come back asap to get some matchplay.

Also now if he returns in acapulco there is a chance he will get beaten in a clay 500. Big knock to confidence. maybe he will skip that and play iw but if he misses both then i fear the worst.

The calendar is a major grind. Add in all the travelling and press and training and tournaments and Nadal may not want to do it anymore. He was vocal about the calendar for years. Now he wants to be a full time golfer and part time poker player.

If he doesn't show up on clay, yeah, everything is lost but I still believe he WILL show up on clay. I believe if all events since Wimbledon had been on clay, he would have already got back. Can't blame him for being a bit more nervous about hard court, given the circumstances.

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Sure, sure. You can't honestly believe that is what is really going on here can you?

Not sure if his retirement is imminent but something isn't right and its possible his body just can't take the brutal beating it once did. He may be forced out of the game without any other choice but to hang it up.

Not sure if his retirement is imminent but something isn't right and its possible his body just can't take the brutal beating it once did. He may be forced out of the game without any other choice but to hang it up.

So how does this work if Nadal can't ever regain his best form? If he retires, does it mean Nadal won the battle but Federer won the war? I mean this is ALL ABOUT the Slams!

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I fail to understand why you feel so threatened by Nadal. No matter what either player does, Nadal will retire as the best clay court player ever, he has no contester on that surface, while his records are not even close to Fed's on hard court. You should worry about Djoko more. He's the one with 4 slams, 2 WTF and 10 masters on hard already. He's much more likely to challenge Fed's records on hard than Nadal in the next 5 years or so. On grass, why worry? You'd have to be a bit braindead to fear that Rafa is gonna win 5 Wimbledon + in the next few years. So, what's left? The head to head? Big deal. 17 slams speaks for itself.
In a nutshell, I cannot figure out where your high sense of insecurity and intense manic need to put Nadal down come from

I fail to understand why you feel so threatened by Nadal. No matter what either player does, Nadal will retire as the best clay court player ever, he has no contester on that surface, while his records are not even close to Fed's on hard court. You should worry about Djoko more. He's the one with 4 slams, 2 WTF and 10 masters on hard already. He's much more likely to challenge Fed's records on hard than Nadal in the next 5 years or so. On grass, why worry? You'd have to be a bit braindead to fear that Rafa is gonna win 5 Wimbledon + in the next few years. So, what's left? The head to head? Big deal. 17 slams speaks for itself.
In a nutshell, I cannot figure out where your high sense of insecurity and intense manic need to put Nadal down come from

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5 Slams. Also, when did I put Nadal down? The only thing I ever questioned was his superior endurance/stamina over all the other players on the tour while being lazy with his workouts on a great diet of chocolate chip cookies and playing video games with Lopez. :lol:

If Nadal is serving a silent ban for drug use, he should be banned from tennis and stripped of all his titles. It means he had an unfair edge on his competition. I guess these details will all come out long after he's retired. If not from him then somebody else who played in his era. Similar to Jose Canseco who ratted out Mark McGwire and others.

The one thing that doesn't make sense about the retirement is this: why would he wait to announce it? Why not just retire instead of pulling out of events every month? I just don't think he is quite done...and I am NOT a fan of Nadal, his tennis, nor his "tactics".

I'll see if he will play on the dirt first. If he comes back playing with Acapulco, he can get some match play in first before the big clay tournies show up. It doesn't matter if he loses in Acapulco, IMO...as he'll raise his level of play accordingly in the bigger events.

Ralph should become more serious about his golf career,all he needs to do his swing his golf stick and the golf car(whatever its called) can take him everywhere so his knees won't be harmed. Plus golf courses are of mostly grass so it's easy on his body.

Ralph should become more serious about his golf career,all he needs to do his swing his golf stick and the golf car(whatever its called) can take him everywhere so his knees won't be harmed. Plus golf courses are of mostly grass so it's easy on his body.

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That is another thing, do you honestly think a person with the knee injury Nadal supposedly has would be golfing? No way.

The one thing that doesn't make sense about the retirement is this: why would he wait to announce it? Why not just retire instead of pulling out of events every month? I just don't think he is quite done...and I am NOT a fan of Nadal, his tennis, nor his "tactics".

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He is not retiring at least not by his own choice. If that were the case he would have announced it already and split the scene. That retirement scenario makes no sense at all.

He is not retiring at least not by his own choice. If that were the case he would have announced it already and split the scene. That retirement scenario makes no sense at all.

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It takes years for athletes to come to terms with the end and to make the announcement. Why should Nadal retire? He's getting lots of good money offers and endorsements. Do you think Nadal will even have 1/10 of his fanbase when he's retired. Nobody cares about retired athletes. He's not retiring for a few years anyway.